


Gaila's Five Failed Attempts at Wooing Leonard McCoy

by pustophlese (orphan_account)



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek (2009)
Genre: 5 +1, Academy Fic, Drama, F/M, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-23
Updated: 2011-01-29
Packaged: 2017-10-15 00:15:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/155070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/pustophlese
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gaila happens to have a crush on a certain cadet in the med bay and she doesn't quite know how to get his attention.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Introduction

**Author's Note:**

> The introduction, where Gaila realizes what a crush is exactly.

Gaila had a problem, she realized as she sat not so patiently on the bio-bed in Starfleet Academy's medical building. She felt funny, her palms sweaty and her stomach fluttering excitedly as she waited on the cadet that usually injected her with her pheromone suppressants. She didn't know anything except for that his last name was McCoy (her stomach flipped just thinking about it), he was grouchy for some reason or another, he had some weird accent, and that even though he had a bad temper, he had the warmest, gentlest hands she had ever felt.

 

“Hey there, Miss Gaila.”

 

Oh and, whenever he said her name with that weird drawl of his, her heartbeat sped up and her breath quickened and she couldn't help but giggle in response.

 

“Hey Mr. McCoy,” she said as he walked into the room where she sat. His head was down, his attention on the padd in his hand, and he had a small smile on his face that made Gaila sigh softly as she watched him sit at the desk across from her.

 

“And you're here for...a late dose of pheromone suppressants. Now Gaila, I thought we discussed this--”

 

“'You have to be on time for these thangs so you won't go 'nd send the whole campus into a stupor,'” she interrupted, mimicking his accent with a grin as he set his padd down and stood, pulling a hypo out of his pocket and a tricorder off the desk. He gave her a small frown as he walked over to her, setting the hypo down on one end of the bio-bed before hovering the tricorder over her and taking a dainty green wrist into his hand.

 

“Well if you know it so well, why do you come so late?” he asked, watching the tricorder as he monitored her blood pressure. Gaila shrugged, taking a deep breath to try and calm herself, both mentally cursing and praising Cadet McCoy for preferring to take her vitals in this way rather than trusting the bed to do so.

 

“Maybe I like hearing you gripe at me,” she said, lightly nudging his shin with her foot.

 

“You're mighty silly for an Orion,” he said before walking away from her, marking her vitals down on the padd. Gaila nodded in response, replaying his long pronunciation of _Uh-ri-un_ in her head until he returned back to the bio-bed and readied her hypo. She slid off the surface, turning her back to him and pulling her skirt down just the slightest to expose the top of her glutes to him and then leaned forward.

 

“You know it's against the rules for you to be running around without these,” McCoy said from behind her, one of his hands coming to rest on her lower back as the tip of the hypo met her skin. “And I'd hate to see you get kicked out of the Academy just because you didn't feel like comin' down to see me.” There was a click and a slow hiss and then his warm hand was gone from her back. Gaila slowly readjusted her skirt, feeling the suppressants taking action inside of her body as she turned and sat back on the bio-bed

 

“It's not that I don't feel like coming down here,” she finally replied as she watched him rub at his nose (which she learned over time was an outside side effect of the suppressants), “I just...forget.”

 

“You forget.” McCoy's eyebrow slowly crept up as he returned to his seat at the desk. “So you're sayin' you want me to hunt you down every two weeks and inject you wherever you may be so you _won't_ forget?”

 

Gaila giggled and bit her bottom lip, wiggling in her seat as he looked at her. “Well, I wouldn't mind if you did.”

 

“No, but I'm sure the boys that flock you would. Now, if you're feeling alright, you're free to go.”

 

Gaila thought for a minute. Was she feeling alright? She didn't want to sound silly and ask him if the way she felt around him was normal. That seemed like a question she should ask Nyota when she got back to their dorm instead. So, instead she nodded and gave McCoy a little wave as she hopped off the bio-bed again.

 

“Thanks McCoy!” she called as she left the room, a lingering feeling of disappointment floating around in her mind as she walked out of the medical building. These things were strange to her, the way she felt whenever around McCoy, the recurring want to stay off her pheromone suppressants for weeks and then lure him in, the way she wanted his hands everywhere but where he would always put them. Gaila shook her head to remove the thoughts before they could take over and distract her from finding Nyota. She began walking to the ladies' dormitory, speeding up her gait when she realized the next hour of classes would be starting soon. Once inside the building, she all but ran to their room, keying open the door and rushing inside.

 

“Nyota! I need your help,” she said breathlessly, catching Nyota collecting her padds for class.

 

“Can it wait?” Nyota asked, walking to where Gaila was standing by the door. “I have a meeting with Spock before class starts.”

 

“No! There's something wrong with me! ...I think. Please?” Gaila pouted, grabbing Nyota's hand when she reluctantly nodded and pulling her over to the nearest bed to sit. “I need your advice on human males.”

 

Nyota let out an annoyed huff and stood. “I don't give dating advice, Gaila, you know that.”

 

“But Nyota, please!” Gaila begged as she pulled Nyota back down. “It's not about dating, I think it's life and death! There's this guy and whenever I see him I get all hot and my hands sweat and my heart beats fast and my stomach starts doing this weird twisty thing and I can't stop thinking about him and his voice and his hands and--”

 

“Breathe, Gaila!” Nyota's hands grasped her shoulders, shaking her gently to get her attention. “Calm down, okay, it's not that serious. You obviously have a crush on this guy.”

 

“A crush?” Nyota's body visibly slumped at Gaila's quiet reply, shaking her head and dropping her hands as she muttered to herself.

 

“Yes, Gaila, a crush. You know, when you like someone and you start getting butterflies and stuff around them? I promise, it's perfectly normal.” With that, Nyota stood again, grabbing her padds and patting Gaila's shoulder before walking back to the door.

 

“Wait, Nyota! What do I do?” Gaila asked before the door could slide open. Nyota sighed, giving Gaila a look that said “are you _serious_?” and leaned against the divider between the room and the door.

 

“I don't know, Gaila, maybe find out his interests and ask him out? That's always a good start,” she said smartly. “Now _goodbye_ , Gaila.”

 

Find out his interests? How was she supposed to do that if she didn't even know his first name? Gaila whined, dramatically falling back onto the bed and staring at the ceiling. What was it that human boys liked? Of course he liked medicine if he was training to become a medical officer, and if he liked medicine he had to like science. ...Right?


	2. First Attempt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wherein Gaila tries to impress Leonard with science.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :3 thank you guys for reading. Thank you all so very, very much.

**Find Out His Interests**

 

Gaila skipped out of the campus greenhouse, sneezing and doing her best to dust the various pollens off her cadet uniform that the alien plants had decided she was an ideal target for fertilizing as she strolled through. After cleaning her uniform the best she could, she pulled the flowers she had collected from inside out of her pocket to make sure they weren't too damaged. The botanist inside didn't like that she was touching all of the plants, but she didn't pay him any mind as she picked the flowers she found. She had a pretty vine with purple flowers that also had fancy little beans hanging from it (that she ate because she didn't want them to waste, of course) and a stem of funny pink flowers that fit prettily on her fingers. She had grabbed a plant with odd shaped leaves, too, but the botanist inside slapped it out of her hand (which was why she had picked her flowers in secrecy) before she could pluck the leaf off its stem.

 

Gaila admired her plants before heading to the medical building, so very sure that the plants she had would interest McCoy since the botanist had told her that they were related to medicine...somehow. Making her way inside the clinic where McCoy usually worked, Gaila sat patiently in the waiting room, watching the flowers she had in hand twirl as she rolled them between her fingers. Everything was fine, of course, until her hand began to itch.

 

And then her stomach hurt.

 

And then she got hot.

 

She wiped at the sweat beginning to bead at her forehead and then scratched at her itching wrist, glaring down at the spot only to find a patch of her green skin growing shiny. She whined, rubbing at it in annoyance until she heard that drawl she had grown so fond of.

 

“Miss Gaila, what're you doin' here?” McCoy asked as he walked over to Gaila. “And what're you pickin' at?”

 

“Nothing!” Gaila said quickly, standing to greet McCoy and pulling down her sleeve to prevent him from examining it. “I was just walking through the greenhouse earlier and I saw these and thought of you,” she explained, turning up her charm as she handed the flowers to him. He looked at them, his signature eyebrow raising as he muttered thanks. “I heard that they were used in medicine,” she added quickly before she lost his attention.

 

“Well, this one is,” McCoy said, sitting down and waving the pink one at her. “It's foxglove, and it has somethin' called digoxin in it. But this one,” he looked at the purple one, “not so much. People turn up in the hospital for eating wisteria seeds, the fools.” Gaila nodded, unable to hold back the urge to scratch her arm any longer, her hand flying to it and scratching madly.

 

“What do the seeds do?” she asked as another wave of nausea hit her.

 

“Well they—Gaila are you alright? You ain' lookin' too hot...” Before Gaila had a chance to tell him that yes, she was okay and _always_ hot, her stomach lurched unexpectedly and she couldn't help but throw up on the floor. McCoy grabbed her arm and stood her up to get her away from the mess, letting out a “ _damnit_ , Gaila!” when he noticed the forming rash on her hand and wrist. “What the hell did you get into in that greenhouse?” McCoy hissed as her stomach lurched again and she bent over to heave. “Nurse!”

 

~~

 

“Apparently she ate those damn wisteria pods,” Gaila heard McCoy say as she came to. She sat up in the bio-bed she was laying in, her neck sore and hand still itching insanely. “And she managed to get poison ivy all over her right arm. Who the hell told her that was all a good idea?” Gaila blushed as she listened, cradling her head in her left hand and groaning at her stupidity.

 

“Oh, Gaila, what did you do?” she peeked up, seeing Nyota and McCoy coming towards her. Nyota sat on the edge of her bed, frowning at her.

 

“It was a mistake,” Gaila said lamely, bashfully looking up at McCoy. “Sorry for the trouble.”

 

“No trouble, Miss Gaila, just a mess for someone else to clean. You're free to go, just make sure you don't scratch at those bumps 'til they're healed, okay? And be careful about what you eat; your stomach's gonna be sensitive for a while. I'll leave you two ladies to yourselves.” Once McCoy left, Nyota handed Gaila her uniform and ended up helping the Orion into it since her body was a bit weak.

 

~~

 

 

“Feel better?” Nyota asked as she sat back down after returning their trays. They had gone to the cafeteria after Gaila had been dismissed from the hospital, McCoy ordering her to have a light meal following her short stay. “Good,” she said once Gaila nodded. “What the hell were you doing in the greenhouse? Is that where the guy you like works?”

 

“No,” Gaila sighed, knowing Nyota would interrogate her sooner or later, “it just seemed like a good idea at the time.”

 

“Yeah, like eating those pods, Gaila? You're so smart, what made you do that?” Gaila dropped her head dramatically to the table top as Nyota chewed her out. “God, Leonard had to pump your stomach, you know. I mean, he said it was all in a day's work but he didn't sound too happy about it. You gave everyone a scare.”

 

“He's always like that,” Gaila muttered, propping her chin up on the table. “I made a fool of myself in front of--Leonard? His name is Leonard?” she sat up straight, smiling at her friend brightly. “You found out his name for me?”

 

“ _For_ you? Gaila, what are you talking about? I've known him all semester, and yes, I suppose you did make a fool of yourself in front of him.” Gaila let out a squeal, covering her mouth with her hands when Nyota cringed. “What's gotten you all excited?” she asked while Gaila bounced in her seat, making a face when it finally hit her. “Don't tell me _he's_ the one you have a crush on, Gai. The grouchy southern Dr. Leonard McCoy, seriously?”

 

“Why'd you say it like that?” Gaila gasped, her bouncing ceasing. “What's wrong with him?”

 

Nyota shrugged and stood. “I never said there was anything wrong with him,” she said, motioning to Gaila as she began to walk, “just that he's older than the rest of the cadets, divorced, and friends with Jim Kirk.”

 

“Well, so? And he's not grouchy all the time. I've seen him smile once.”

 

“Once? Ha!” Nyota laughed, stifling it quickly when Gaila frowned. “All I'm saying is he's not the most pleasant person to be around, Gaila, but if you like him...”

 

“I do like him, Nyota, and I have no clue how to get to him,” Gaila sighed, crossing her arms as they walked to their dorms. “I have no clue what he likes, I don't know what to talk to him about, and I only see him when he's giving me my dosage. What do I do?”

 

“Maybe...” Nyota started after a pregnant pause, “maybe you should make him come to you? You have to do things that interest him to draw him in, maybe make him a little jealous, you know?”

 

Gaila made a thoughtful noise in response as they walked, her mind filling with the different ways she could catch Mc— _Leonard's—_ attention. She couldn't get him with her pheromones since they were getting suppressed twice a month, so she'd have to do it some other way...

 

“I've got it!” she called out as they stepped into their room. “Do our doctors make house calls?”


	3. ~Intentionally Get His Attention

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Gaila tries something a bit more normal...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One day I'll post a chapter at a regular time that's not before noon ;x  
> And do note that all the random names I've used (Gaila's surname and the name of the race of aliens) are products of my precious imagination.

  



**Get His Attention (Intentionally)**

  



Leonard pressed the door chime for the Uhura-Velvalon room and waited patiently for Gaila to answer. She had requested a room visit earlier in the week for him to come and give her her upcoming dose of pheromone suppressants since she would be “too busy” to make it down to medical anytime soon. So there he was, holding a tricorder and hypo in his hand when Gaila opened the door...in her underwear. Sure it was okay when he caught sight of her underwear whilst in the clinic (since her suppressants _did_ require to be administered to the glute), but _this_ was different. He coughed into his free had as she moved to let him in and he did his best to keep his gaze away from everything but her bright hot pink bra and panties against her green skin.

“Hello, Leonard,” she said cheerfully from beside him, “thanks for coming. Now where do you want me?” He coughed again, closing his eyes and counting to ten before turning and smiling at her.

“Wherever you want, ma'am,” he replied, taking a moment to pray when she beamed and bounced over to the beds further in the room, the lingering scent of something way too heady to be her pheromones following her.

Working with an Orion was hard, Leonard decided as he tried to check Gaila's vitals without looking at the parts of her that weren't necessary. As always, her blood pressure and heart rate were higher than usual but not alarmingly so, though whenever that happened, her pheromones went wild. They were never a problem for him, their levels never being high enough for him to actually lose control, but with this other smell in the air, things were becoming a bit difficult. Shaking his head, Leonard put his tricorder down, looking up at Gaila and giving her a small smile.

“Alright, I'll just give you your meds and be on my way, okay?” Gaila nodded, standing quickly in a flash of orange, green, and pink, making Leonard's head spin.

“Are you okay Leonard?” she asked, kneeling to put her hand on his shoulder.

“Yeah,” he muttered when the room became still (enough) once more. Slowly, he raised himself from his kneeling position. “See, I'm fine.”

Or, he was until his knees buckled.

He fell forward onto Gaila, taking her by surprise as she fell back on the bed with him in her arms. Leonard tried to push himself up, away from her shocked form.

“Len,” she said breathlessly, her heart beating so hard he felt it reverberating through his own chest, the scent of her pheromones thickening in the air.

“Gaila, I think I'm gonna--”

“ _Really_?” Gaila groaned as Leonard fell face first into her chest, his body heavy on top of hers. He was nose deep in her cleavage and this was not the way she wanted it at all. Grabbing his shoulders, Gaila hefted Leonard off her chest and onto his side, staring down at his unconscious form before going to the comm station.

 

~~

 

“He had a reaction to my pheromones!” Gaila moaned, burying her face in Nyota's shoulder as they waited in the hospital. “It was horrible!” Nyota sighed and sympathetically patted Gaila's back, letting out a quiet yawn as Gaila clung to her. “This is _not_ the way things were supposed to be going. What do I do?”

“Well, first, you quiet down and quit making a scene,” Nyota hissed, making Gaila pull away with a huff. “Second, quit overreacting. The doctor said that it wasn't your pheromones, it was something else. Third, it's not the end of the world, okay? I'm sure you still have a shot at winning him over.” Gaila sniffed and nodded, pouting as she leaned over, her elbows on her knees and chin in her hands.

“I keep messing everything up, Nyota...” she sighed, closing her eyes until the doctor that was treating Leonard walked out into the waiting room.

“Well, ladies, Cadet McCoy is gonna be just fine,” he said, “and he'll be out soon.” At this, Gaila let out a squeal, leaning over to give Nyota a quick hug. “Now tell me, Cadet Velvalon, did you at any point give Cadet McCoy a sedative of any sort?” Gaila's brows furrowed in confusion at the question.

“A sedative, sir? I didn't give him anything at all.” She sat up in her chair, nearly cowering when the man before her crossed his arms.

“Are you sure, cadet? There were large amounts of a Rixillian aphrodisiac in his system when we found him.” Beside Gaila, Nyota groaned and changed seats, moving away from her roommate.

“ _Damnit_ , Gaila! Is _that_ why I'm so tired, doctor?” Nyota asked, her the disappointment on her face stronger than Gaila had ever seen before.

“Wait,” Gaila said before the doctor could explain, “I don't understand.” She looked from the doctor to Nyota, both of them giving her looks that made her want to melt into her chair and never rise again.

“Well for one, it could be fatal to humans, so after I explain, you'll have to be sanitized. In short, in order to mate, Rixillian males have to sedate the females with a plant that grows on their planet. To other species, this plant can be used as an aphrodisiac, other species not including humans, that is. Cadet, it seems to me that you got your hands on this plant in some way or another and as a result, Cadet McCoy fell unconscious from coming into close contact with you.”

Gaila's jaw dropped. She couldn't believe her luck! “Oh...but doctor, I don't _have_ any Rixillian aphrodisiacs on me. Or at least, I don't think I do.”

 

~~

 

“Nyota, how many times do I have to say I'm sorry?” Gaila yelled as she followed the girl across the campus. She was cold from being _sanitized_ which was really code name for “sprayed with the strongest hoses in the universe until the medical team thinks you're clean” and her skin stung and there was a breeze that was making her all the colder and Nyota wouldn't _slow down_. How was she supposed to know that the perfume she bought for Leonard was filled with that damn Rixillian aphrodisiac?

“You don't _have_ to say it anymore, Gaila!” Nyota shouted back, finally stopping so she could turn and face the dripping Orion. “At this very moment our room is being raided by the science team so I am not very pleased with you.”

“But I didn't know--”

“I don't want to hear it, Gaila, okay? Just do me a favor and leave me alone for tonight. I'm tired as hell from your _perfume_ and all I want to do is crawl into a nice, warm bed.” Gaila nodded, slumping when Nyota turned and walked away towards the housing for commanding officers.


	4. Make Him Dinner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gaila decides to apologize to Leonard with a dinner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone for your comments and kudos. It means a lot<3

Gaila had heard once that the way to a human man's heart was through his stomach. Since she was somewhat sure that a surgeon hadn't coined that statement (and after making sure one didn't by asking Nyota), she was prepared to make Leonard an “I apologize for everything bad that has happened recently” dinner!

Nyota had laughed at her idea at first, of course, since Gaila didn't know the first thing about cooking (“I _do_ know how to cook!...just not human food.”), nor did she know what Leonard enjoyed eating.

“I have a basic idea,” Gaila said proudly as she gussied herself up in their mirror.

“Do you now?” Nyota chuckled from behind her, making sure her red curls had just the right amount of bounce.

“Well...not really, but that's why I'm running down to the clinic first so I can _ask_ him, and then I'm going to buy everything and cook it.” Satisfied with her sprucing, Gaila took a step back to better examine herself. She looked pretty, as humans had told her before, in the civilian clothes she had borrowed from Nyota (or rather, Nyota had put her in).

“I hope it works, Gaila,” Nyota said after Gaila did a twirl in the simple white dress she had been given. “Just make sure you don't burn anything.” Gaila scowled, grabbing her handbag before walking to the door. To her dismay, Nyota's “And make sure you don't poison him!” was heard over the sound of the door closing.

Gaila couldn't help skipping to the medical building, the excitement over her plan getting the best of her. She made her way upstairs to Leonard's clinic, smiling at everyone as she passed them by. Finding the doctor leaning over a padd at his desk, Gaila smiled harder; what better way to end a long day than a nice hot meal? She carefully perched herself on the edge of his desk, catching his attention when she leaned to look at what he was working on.

“Good afternoon to you, too, Gaila,” he said as he put his padd to the side and leaned back in his chair. “Don't you look nice. What're you all dressed up for?”

“I came to ask you what time you got off, Leonard, and to invite you to dinner,” she said, trying not to let her nervousness show when he didn't answer right away.

“I'm off now,” he finally said, scooting forward in his seat and looking up at Gaila, “but if you don't mind me asking, what might we be having?” Gaila squealed, sliding off his desk quickly and bouncing on her toes.

“Anything you want, Leonard! Just name it and I'll make it.” Her stomach flipped when he smiled at her excitement, his fingers tapping on the desktop as he thought.

“I'm a meat and potatoes kinda guy,” Leonard decided, “with some veggies and hot rolls on the side. Sound good to you?”

“It sounds perfect!” Gaila beamed, “The kitchen in the ladies’ dorm will be free tonight, so how about you meet me there. 19:00 okay?”

“19:00 it is,” Leonard agreed, “’nd do you want me to bring anythin’?”

Gaila shook her head as she began to depart. “Just your person, Leonard, your person with an empty stomach.”

 

~~

 

Human food was _gross_ , Gaila decided as she walked through the grocery store that wasn’t all too far from their campus. She never ate it in the cafeteria or anywhere else it was served, so she didn’t know what possessed her to think this was a good idea. All of the meats she saw were shades of red and pink and the aisle they were in smelled like a cold prepackaged death, and from what she could understand from the holos on the wall of the animals served, humans ate the _cute_ ones that they kept on farms! Gaila shuddered and walked out of the store; clearly the human one wasn’t the one to look at.

She went to a local alien store, instead, one that claimed to sell the “Delicacies of the Galaxy!” as their tagline said. As soon as she stepped inside, she felt at home, the scents of (somewhat) living, (labored) breathing things that she was used to eating. She went to the aisle of what she knew to be meats, smiling at the butcher before asking him for his best quality cuts.

 

~~

 

“Gaila, he is _not_ going to like this,” Nyota warned as she watched Gaila drop something white and _squirming_ into one of her pots. “Humans don’t really like to hear what they’re about to eat squealing.” Gaila rolled her eyes, grabbing her spoon and making sure to crush her favorite native organism before it could crawl back out.

“Humans like their food fresh, Nyota,” Gaila said matter-of-factly, pulling away from her pot to look inside the oven to make sure her meat was baking nicely.

“Yeah, and they also like food they can identify,” Nyota countered, leaning forward when the oven opened to catch the scent of the cooking meat. “Though it does smell delicious, so you may prove me wrong.”

“I hope to. Now instead of standing there, will you help me?”

“Sure,” Nyota said, standing by Gaila’s side and frowning at the pack of green balls she had been handed. “Gaila, what are these?”

“Some type of egg,” Gaila said with a shrug, “the man in the store said they taste like your Brussels sprouts if you boil them just right.” Had she not been so focused on the stirring of her root, Gaila would’ve noticed the nauseous look that passed over Nyota’s face.

 

~~

 

The table Gaila had set up was beautiful, Nyota even said so. With their plates set and ready at opposite ends of the table and some spicy Vulcan candle Nyota had gotten from Commander Spock in the middle, giving the entire area a warm glow. Gaila was fluttering around the table, straightening the knives and forks when Leonard finally walked in at 19:02, his surprise at her hard work evident when he let out a gasp.

“Leonard, hi!” Gaila said, walking around the table to give him a quick hug and guide him to his seat.

“Miss Gaila, this looks wonderful,” he said sincerely, picking up as his utensils while Gaila blushed and seated herself. “Hope you don’t mind if I go ahead and dig in?”

She shook her head, picking up her fork to join him. “Not at all, Leonard. I just wanted to make up for that…incident last week.”

Leonard quickly chewed and swallowed the egg he had popped into his mouth, making a pleased noise before speaking. “Don’t worry about that, Gaila. It’s over ‘nd done with now.” Gaila nodded in agreement, wiggling in her seat when Leonard dug his fork into the root and let out another pleased noise at the taste. “I have not had potatoes this good since I was back home,” he said, motioning to the pile of whiteness in question.

“I’m glad you like them, but they’re not potatoes,” Gaila admitted with a smile, watching Leonard put some of everything from his plate onto his fork.

“Oh yeah?” he said, taking his bite before slicing another strip of meat. “It sure tastes like ‘em. What are they?”

“Well,” Gaila started, sitting up proudly in her seat, “that’s the Orion slugroot, my favorite. It’s this mollusk that lives underground on my planet—” she paused to take a bite of it herself, “—and it’s pretty hard to find because they only come out when they’re in season. Ooh, and those,” she pointed to the green balls on her plate, “are the eggs of one of our amphibious creatures. They’re a real delicacy, but I’ve never had them before.” Leonard dropped his fork, the clatter of it hitting his plate ringing through the small area. Gaila gasped, shaking her head at Leonard so he wouldn’t stand. “No, no! It’s okay! They’re the young that didn’t make it to the hatching period, I promise. The man in the store told me.” She tilted her head when she saw the doctor literally change colors from red, to pale, to a pasty green. She had never known that humans did such things when they were pleased! “And I’m glad that you like the Andorian cerato horn; it was the thing I was the most unsure about.”

Leonard cleared his throat, picking up his napkin and pressing it to his mouth. “C-cerato horn? Do I wanna know what that is?”

“Well you asked!” Gaila giggled. “I heard it’s the Andorian equivalent of the Terran rhinoceros, except it doesn’t have horns on their heads.”

“Then Gaila…” Leonard said cautiously, “…what exactly is this?”

“Its penis, of course!”

To say the least, Gaila was surprised when Leonard shot up and out of his chair, running from the dining area. She waited a moment before going to follow him, knowing that the night was ruined when she heard him retching in the bathroom.


	5. Unintentionally Get His Attention

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Gaila has a mishap and has to see Leonard.

“Gaila, are you going to get out of bed?” Nyota asked, shaking Gaila’s curled up form lightly. “You’re going to be late for class…”

“So?” Gaila grumped, curling further into her sheets. She was still stung from her failed dinner and Leonard’s avoidance of her afterwards. Nyota sighed, sitting on the edge of Gaila’s bed and hugging her through the sheets.

“It’ll be okay, Gaila, I promise, even better if you actually get out of bed and get some fresh air.” Gaila shook her head stubbornly, making Nyota sigh again and stand. “If I see him during my Kobayashi Maru today, do you want me to talk to him?”

“You don’t have to,” Gaila said, flopping over onto her back. “Don’t worry about me, I’ll get up sooner or later.” She gave Nyota a smile, sitting up in her bed while Nyota grabbed her things. “Good luck with your test, I heard it was a tough one.”

Nyota snorted as she walked to the door, “I’ll need it with that damn Kirk in the command chair.”

Once Nyota left, Gaila forced herself out of bed, stretching as she grabbed her toiletry bag from between her and Nyota’s beds. She made her way to the bathrooms down the hall from their room, setting her bag on the nearest sink so she could ready herself for the day. After she brushed her teeth, she grabbed a bottle of body wash Nyota had given her once, feeling the need for an actual water shower rather than a sonic. Setting the water temperature of a vacant stall, Gaila pinned up her curls before climbing in, sighing with relief as she stood under the stream of water.

This whole crush on Leonard was proving to be more trouble than it was worth, she decided as she began to lather up the body wash. Maybe she should just give up and try the guys that were actually interested in her? …No, that wouldn’t work because she didn’t like anyone like she liked Leonard.

Gaila splashed herself in the face, “But he doesn’t like _you_ or your plants or your pheromones or your food or—ow!” her skin burned as if the water’s temperature had increased suddenly. Quickly rinsing herself off, she shut off the water, stepping out of the stall and whimpering when she looked down. The skin on her chest was peeling and growing more irritated by the second. Grabbing a towel from her bag, she patted herself down in the gentlest way she could before cautiously wrapping it around herself and running back to her room.

“No, no, no,” she muttered as the door clicked shut behind her and she hurried to the nearest mirror, letting out a string of pained curses when she saw that her arms were peeling, too. She looked at her reflection pitifully for a moment and screamed—not her face, too! “Damnit!”

 

~~

 

The medical building was busier than it usually was, Gaila realized as she made her way inside, dropping to a seat in the waiting room while doctors and nurses bustled around her. She sat until a nurse stopped in front of her, glancing at her irritated skin before turning her head and yelling, “Cadet McCoy, handle this one?”

Gaila’s stomach dropped and her eyes widened when she looked up and saw Leonard rushing toward her, his face turning concerned as soon as he neared.

“Jesus, cadet, come with me,” he said, turning and walking away before she had a chance to stand. She found him a moment later standing beside an open private curtain with another cadet. “Sit down,” he said to Gaila once she stepped inside. She obliged, sitting on the chair that was provided while the other cadet handed Leonard a pair of gloves.

“She seems to have a severe skin irritation,” he said, running his gloved fingers over her cheek. “What happened? Nurse, get me a dermal re-gen and a tube of aloe.”

“I dunno,” Gaila said quietly as the nurse left, looking down while Leonard continued to examine her face and then her neck.

“Does it hurt? Did you put anything foreign on your skin today?” Gaila nodded, sitting back in her seat once the nurse returned. Leonard squirted some of the aloe the nurse had retrieved onto his fingers, showing Gaila before he pressed his fingers to her upper arm first, pulling away when she hissed. “Sorry, Gaila, but I gotta see if I can getcha patched up with this instead of the re-gen.” He brought his fingers to her arm again, gentler this time as he rubbed it in and brought his hand up to her shoulder. Gaila held her breath and closed her eyes, ignoring the tiny sparks of pain the best she could while Leonard moved up to her neck, his fingers dancing over her pulse in the process.

“Is your increased heart rate related to your skin or something else?” he asked quietly as he moved his hand to her chest, Gaila’s face darkening with a blush.

“I think it’s the usual,” she replied, opening her eyes and sucking in a breath when they locked with Leonard’s. Leonard pulled away, standing up straight and pulling off his gloves.

“Nurse, do you mind finishing up? I don’t want to worsen Cadet Velvalon’s condition with her excitement.”

The disappointment that hit Gaila almost made her choke as she watched him open the curtain and leave. The nurse gave Gaila a sympathetic look as she pulled on her gloves and began resuming Leonard’s work.

“You know, I see you in here a lot,” the nurse said, finishing up on Gaila’s chest and moving to her other arm. “See, we all know that you like McCoy; we can see it by the way you stare at him. The thing you have to understand is, the man’s divorced, so he probably doesn’t remember what it’s like to be wanted. In my opinion, if you _really_ want to get his attention, you have to make him jealous.” The nurse stood up, looking over her work before peeling her gloves off. “It’s the oldest trick in the book and it always works. Just show interest in another guy and he’ll come running to you.”

Gaila pondered this as she stood, walking out of the small area and through the hospital. If that was true like the nurse had said, she couldn’t just pick any old Tom, Dick, or Ha’xqory; she had to get someone Leonard knew, someone cocky, smart, wanted, and young. Gaila stopped walking, letting out a laugh before she turned and went back to the waiting room, sitting down next to the first girl she found.

“Pardon me,” she said, getting the girl’s attention, “but do you know where I can find Jim Kirk?”


	6. Make Him Jealous

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where Gaila and Jim get closer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ;~; second to the last chapter. Thank you all for reading.

Gaila learned a few things within the first five minutes of meeting Jim (Jimmy, as she had quickly taken to calling him) Kirk. First, he was cute, and his cuteness led to (2) his cockiness. But he made up for his cockiness with (3) his smartness that he displayed immediately when Gaila sat next to him in the library, complaining that she needed help with her astrophysics. While he “helped” her (who was she kidding, astrophysics was child’s play), he showed that along with all of these other things, Jim Kirk was (4) charming. He was even charming when he found her out and told her so.

“You don’t really need help with this, do you?” he asked, closing her book and sitting back in his chair.

“Nope.” She crossed her legs, left over right, nudging Jim’s knee with her foot. He looked down and smirked, tapping her boot with his finger.

“So why’d you come here?” Gaila uncrossed her legs, scooting her chair closer to Jim’s and putting a hand on his thigh.

“Because I wanted to get to know you, Jimmy,” she purred, making him straighten up in his seat. From the way he stood up and grabbed her hand, Gaila was sure this part of her plan would work.

 

~~

 

No one warned Gaila of how much of a fun-seeking individual Jim was. And said warning would’ve come very much in handy that night so she would’ve known to avoid the human bar that Jim wanted to visit. Since she wasn’t given a warning, Gaila was now helping a drunk, bleeding, and bruised Jim Kirk back to his dormitory. They both had opted to skip going to the medical building, Kirk because he said he had the necessary materials to fix himself up, Gaila because she didn’t want to see Leonard (or not that she _didn’t_ want to see him, she just didn’t want him to see her with Jim).

“Do you do this every time you visit bars?” she asked once they were inside of the building. Jim shrugged the best he could with his arm slung around Gaila’s shoulders, stumbling with her to the lift.

“Happens ‘casionally,” he slurred after directing the lift to his floor, leaning back on the wall of the lift and pulling Gaila with him. “Couldn’t let ‘im talk to you like that.”

“Oh, Jimmy,” she cooed, having to admit to herself that it _was_ sweet of him to defend her honor. “Thank you, but it wasn’t worth getting all beat up over.”

Jim shrugged again, looking tiredly at Gaila with unfocused eyes. “It got me into your arms, dinnit?” he asked with a lopsided grin, doing his best to stand up straight when the lift came to a stop. Gaila chuckled, letting Jim lead the way to his room, helping him not fall into walls or knock over hall decorations.

“I think Bones is sleepin’,” Jim attempted to whisper, keying the door open and pulling away from Gaila to stumble inside. Gaila quickly ordered the lights on to a low percent before Jim could crash into anything and wake this “Bones” up; she contemplated following him to wherever he was going so he wouldn’t hurt himself, but instead she sat in a dining chair and waited for him to come back.

“Yup, he’s sleepin’,” Jim called from the bedroom, walking back into the room with a medkit in hand. He plopped down on the floor in front of Gaila, smiling up at her through a busted lip as he opened it and looked inside.

“Are you sure you’re fit to be doing this, Jimmy?” Gaila asked carefully as he began tossing unneeded items out of the kit. “Maybe you should wait ‘til you sober up a bit.” She slid onto the floor with him, grabbing his hands to catch his attention. He smirked at her, wiggling his fingers until he could lace them with hers and nudging the medkit in between them to the side with a leg.

“I like you, Gaila,” he said, scooting towards her on the carpet and pulling her to him by her hands. He guided her arms to wrap around his neck, increasing their closeness and making Gaila wiggle her nose at the various scents coming off his person. “An’ I know you like me too, ri’?”

“Yeah, Jimmy, I like you alright.” His smirk grew and the cut on his lip opened in the slightest. He licked at it a moment before meeting Gaila’s eyes and resting his forehead against hers.

“I can tell you like takin’ care of me, Gaila,” he said, one of his hands coming around to her back, stroking the zip of dress she was wearing. “You’re like Bones except—” the other hand came around and both of them went to her waist, pulling her into his lap, “—curvier. And green. And pretty.” He chuckled to himself, pulling away from her to examine her face, the bruised knuckles of his right hand came up to stroke her cheek. She smiled gently at him, but her smile quickly disappeared when he came at her for a kiss.

“Jim!” she gasped. She pushed herself back and out of his lap, hitting the chair behind her in her haste while Jim fell backwards onto the floor. He began groaning after his head thudded against the floor lightly, unsuccessfully trying to roll over to his front as he grabbed at his head. “Oh, Jimmy,” Gaila sighed, standing and reaching down to help him up.

“I’m gonna be sick,” he grumbled, worming out of her grasp once he was on his feet and running to the bathroom.

“Damnit, Jim! What’s all that noise?” a voice yelled back from the bedrooms, making Gaila freeze in her spot.

 _No, no, no, no. This_ can’t _be happening_. Gaila thought, her heart beating rapidly in her chest as footsteps from the bedroom stopped by the bathroom and then continued on into the room she was in.

“Gaila?” Leonard said, a mixture of confusion, disappointment, and annoyance passing across his face.

“Hi, Leonard,” she said with a small wave.

“What’re you doin’ here at this hour?” he asked, crossing his arms as he glanced to the floor, seeing the contents of the medkit strewn across the floor. Before Gaila could answer, Jim emerged from the bathroom, wiping at his mouth and giving Gaila and Leonard a muttered “goodnight” before disappearing into the bedroom. Leonard sighed, stepping away from the wall and walking over to the mess Jim had left, picking everything up and putting it back into the kit. “I never knew you were a Kirk girl.”

“A ‘Kirk' girl?’” Gaila said, bending to hand him a stray roll of gauze.

“Yanno, one of the many in his… _fan_ club.” He took the gauze from her, stuffing it into the kit and closing it. “But it’s no big deal, Gaila, whatever floats your boat.” The smile he gave her was forced as he placed the kit on the table beside her. Gaila opened her mouth to defend herself before closing it and smiling right back.

“I wouldn’t call myself a fan, Leonard,” she said, straightening her dress in a way that made him stare. “I prefer to be called an _exclusive member_.” She gave him a wink, leaving him sputtering for a moment as she walked to the door. “Tell Jimmy that I expect a proper date soon, won’t you?” she called as she left the room.

Operation Make Leonard Jealous was under way.

 

~~

 

Gaila should’ve stopped this a while ago, she realized weeks later as she and Jim sat in the computer lab. He was looking at her expectantly, his blue eyes shining as he awaited her answer.

“Please, Gaila, you _have_ to help me.” She bit her lip, worrying it between her teeth as she mentally scolded herself; she really shouldn’t have mentioned her computer skill to him.

“Jimmy, it’s not gonna be easy,” she said slowly, hoping to deter his idea. “And if we get caught, we could get into trouble.” Jim grabbed the arm of her chair, swiveling it so she was facing him so he could take both her hands into his.

“We won’t get caught, Gaila, I promise,” he kissed the backs of her fingers from where they were peeking between his, keeping his eyes locked onto hers. “If anything, _I’ll_ get caught, okay? My name’s gonna be all over it, not yours.”

“But Jimmy—”

“Gaila, don’t you want me to be known throughout history as the only cadet to beat the Kobayashi Maru?” he whispered this into her hands, giving her a pout when she tried to pull away.

“It’d be a great title, Jimmy, but you’d be the _notorious_ cadet who beat the Kobayashi Maru.” Jim laughed, sitting up in his seat but still holding onto Gaila’s hands.

“Can you just give me a quick tutorial on how you would do a quick override on a program that can’t be taken down by any of my hacks?” Gaila sighed, closing her eyes as she prepared to tell Jim once again that _no_ , she wouldn’t be helping him when he pulled her chair close, closer than they normally sat. Gaila gasped when her legs were placed between his own, her knees hitting the edge of his seat.

Yeah, she thought as his hands left hers to slide up her thighs before coming to her cheeks and pulling her in for a kiss, she should’ve ended this a while ago.

“Are you sure you’re not part Orion?” she muttered as they parted before his lips met hers again. Along with being cute, cocky, smart, and charming, Jim Kirk was also damn irresistible and the best kisser she had come across in all her years on Earth. Jim chuckled before kissing her deeper, his tongue slipping into her mouth and effectively stealing a few of her brain cells.

“Please?” he asked quietly, placing chaste kisses upon her lips as he waited for a reply.

“ _Fine_ , Jimmy,” she finally decided, untangling herself from the human to face her computer. “The first thing you’ll wanna do is…”

 

~~

 

The next day, Gaila wasn’t all too surprised to find Jim Kirk standing outside of her door in his uniform, a cocky grin on his face as he invited himself in.

“I’m taking the Kobayashi Maru tomorrow,” he announced as he threw off his jacket sat on her bed, making himself comfortable on it. “And I put in the override today, so everything should fall together perfectly tomorrow.” Gaila smirked, sitting beside him and letting out when he pulled her into laying down next to him. “And it’s all thanks to you,” he said as he rolled over onto her, holding himself up on his forearms.

“You’re lucky my roommate’s gone for the day,” she said as one of his hands went to her hair, tangling into her curls to tilt her head back and kiss her. It started out gently as a kiss to thank her, but it quickly became heated. Gaila’s hands slid under his shirt, stroking up his back as their tongues began to tangle.

Gaila found herself making a noise of disappointment when he broke the kiss, grinning when she realized he had done it to order the lights off and pull off his shirt. She did the same, crawling up the bed to rest her head on her pillows and opening her arms to him when he followed.

She could get used to this, she decided as she enjoyed what she mentally called the Jim Kirk Treatment where he did this whole thing of letting his hands, eyes, and mouth go over all of his favorite body parts. Gaila lifted her hips as he pulled off her skirt, grinning at her before he hopped off the bed and yanked down his pants before returning to the bed, his mouth going to her neck and pulling a surprised gasp out of her. She couldn’t let herself get too lost, she remembered, as he slid down to kiss her stomach; this was about Leonard.

“Jim,” she moaned when he made his way back up her torso, “I think I love you.” He paused, pulling away from her, a look of surprise covering his face.

“That is so weird.”

Gaila frowned, ordering the lights on and pushing Jim up. “Did you just say ‘that is so weird?’” This wasn’t how it was supposed to work. “You don’t love me too?” Jim opened his mouth to further explain himself, the words dying when the sound of the door sliding open interrupted him. “Crap, that’s my roommate.”

“Your roommate? I thought you said she was gone for the day?” Gaila rolled her eyebrows, pushing his shoulder to guide him off the bed.

“Well _obviously_ she’s not. Get under the bed so she can’t see you.”

“Why not?” Gaila could strangle him; she closed her eyes while he stood there before motioning to him to hide again.

“I promised her there wouldn’t be anymore guys in the room,” but that was the wrong way to put it, she decided, when Jim asked her how many guys she had had in the room before slipping onto the floor and under her bed. It was in that moment and the moments following that Gaila realized that she _really_ had to end this.

It wasn’t until the next day after Jim’s Kobayashi Maru that she saw him again, and when she did see him, he was with Leonard. And even worse, she found out after they passed by her, they were _talking_ about her.

“She said she loved me, Bones!” Jim said, making Gaila blush when she heard the panic in his voice. “I’ve only been seeing her for a few weeks and she _loves_ me?” Gaila couldn’t help but follow them down the hall, halfheartedly listening to Jim’s panicked rant and more or less watching the way Leonard was visibly wilting next to him. The more Jim said love, the more Leonard’s shoulders visibly slumped until finally, when all three of them were outside of the building, he gave Jim his goodbyes and went down a sidewalk leading the opposite way Jim was going. Gaila and Jim watched him leave until Jim turned and saw her behind him, his face going red as he walked up to her.

“Gaila, hey,” he said awkwardly, his hand going up to scratch his neck. “About the other day…”

“Do you know where Leonard was going?” she asked, craning her neck to try and see which way the doctor went.

“Um, no? Probably to the clinic to work or something—but Gaila, I really need to talk to you.” She smiled at him, giving him a quick peck on the cheek before heading down the walk Leonard had gone down.

“Later, okay, Jimmy?” she called, hurrying towards the medical building.

Only to not find Leonard and other people that didn’t know where he was either. Gaila was sorely disappointed as she walked to the ladies’ dorms, collapsing onto her bed once she made it to her room. She couldn’t even bring herself to care when Nyota told her that Jim was to be put on trial tomorrow for what happened during his Kobayashi Maru. She had obviously made Leonard jealous, but now what was she supposed to do?

“Nyota?” she said quietly, rolling over onto her back. “I think I messed up.”

“Messed up what?”

“My crush with Leonard,” she sat up, tiredly rubbing at her face. “I think I broke it or something.”

“Broke it?” Nyota snorted, doing a poor job at stifling it as she sat across from Gaila on her own bed.

“I tried to make him jealous with Jimmy and I think I did more than that. He probably thinks that I don’t like him at all anymore.” Across from her, Nyota sighed, reaching across the space between them to pat Gaila’s knee.

“Well, Gaila, I guess it’s about time that you just _tell_ him that you like him. And maybe even explain to him what’s been going on all this time.” Nyota gave her a smile as she stood, grabbing Gaila’s hands and pulling her up as well.

“I don’t know why I didn’t think of that before,” Gaila said as Nyota gave her a needed hug. Gaila didn’t have long to dwell on the idea, however, when the campus wide claxon went off, followed by an intercom messages.

“All cadets report to the shuttle bay for further instruction.”


	7. The End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Gaila finally gets it right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading<3 It's been fun.

There were no words to describe how awful this situation was. She was alone, stuck in a broken down shuttle floating too far outside of any planet’s atmosphere to even have an inch of hope. The _Farragut_ had been destroyed and only a handful of them had escaped, Gaila and the three other engineers she had been with being some of the few. It was awful.

The majority of the actual emergency shuttles had been hit while the _Farragut_ was being attacked, leaving only small transport ones like the one she was huddled in now. But of course, Gaila’s luck had run short; the shuttle was meant for carrying isotopes, not humans. One of the cargo holds had been damaged as they fled from Vulcan and the _Farragut_ ’s destruction, causing a leak. It didn’t seem like much until Carson had fallen out, and then Richardson, and then Matthews, leaving Gaila to herself, huddled in the back of the shuttle. She supposed that her Orion physiology had made it possible for her to survive, though she could still feel the effects of the material as it slid across the floor.

Its fumes were filling the small area, Gaila realized some hours earlier when it actually became painful to breathe, her nose and throat growing raw. She had torn off the sleeves of her uniform to turn them into a makeshift mask in an attempt to preventing further damage to her airways. The liquid itself was slowly melting almost everything it touched, save for the floor and walls of the shuttle and the crates to the back, one of which she was sitting on. She wished that she had thought to move the bodies of her comrades earlier, but once she heard the hiss of the isotope hitting their skin, she knew it was too late.

She found herself crying, something she hadn’t done in a long while. Her tears had started when she saw the way Vulcan crumbled and disappeared, hot tears streaking down her cheeks as she watched from the window of the shuttle. They started again when she saw the other shuttles get hit. She couldn’t make them stop now as she hugged her knees to her chest, as many things dawned upon her.

She was stuck, both in the spot that she sat in and in the region of space she was in.

She was alone.

It was getting harder to breathe as more of the isotope flowed out of its container.

She hadn’t had the chance to tell Leonard how she felt.

Gaila knew that that was the least of her worries, but it still hurt. The fact that he would never know and that he would be left with the thought of her loving Jim frustrated her. The fact that there was nothing she could do frustrated her more, and the way they all hadn’t decided to try and stop the leak when they realized that it had started. She wanted to get off the crate and attempt to check out the damage the shuttle had taken, but she didn’t want to risk getting hurt in the process. But what did it matter if she died on this shuttle? It wouldn’t be found for some time, anyway.

 _Incoming transmission from the USS Enterprise_ , the shuttle’s computer chirped, its voice garbled, _accept or decline?_

Gaila’s body went tense from the surprise, the computer having to repeat the call once more before Gaila moved to pull the sleeves from her face.

“Accept!” she yelled, her voice rough from the rawness of her throat.

 _“This is Lieutenant Uhura from the USS Enterprise, are you in need of assistance?”_ came a cool voice Gaila thought she would never hear again.

“Nyota!” she called, those damn tears coming full force as she slid forward on the crate. “Nyota, please help!” There was a pause on the other side, and for a moment, Gaila was sure the communication system had finally cut out from the isotope tearing down its wires until she heard Nyota’s voice again.

 _“Gaila, someone’s going to beam onto your shuttle, okay? Stay calm.”_

“No,” Gaila called back, “it’s too dangerous! There are radioactive materials.” Gaila was panting now, and she had to press her sleeves back to her face as she waited through another pause, her anxiety rising.

 _“Okay, Gaila, do me a favor and stay very still. We’re going to get you out of there.”_

Just as Gaila began to nod, she felt it, that unusual feeling of all of her particles being taken apart and put somewhere else. Before she knew it, she was on the floor of a transporter pad with a medical crew in front of her. A nurse she had recognized form Starfleet’s medical building helped her to her feet, waving a tricorder over her while another held Gaila steady; she hadn’t realized she was shaking.

“We’re going to take you to sickbay, okay?” the nurse with the tricorder said, taking one of Gaila’s hands and leading her off the transporter pad to a waiting stretcher, helping her onto it before they brought it to the lift. “Can you tell me your name?” she asked once they made it to the lift, directing it to the appropriate deck. Gaila took a breath before preparing to answer, a coughing fit taking her over before the words could leave her. The nurse was at her side in a second, cursing when Gaila pulled a bloody hand from her mouth.

Once the lift stopped, the nurse rushed the stretcher into the sickbay, stopping it by a biobed. She called out for a doctor as she helped Gaila onto the biobed, waving the tricorder over her throat.

“We got one from the shuttle, Chapel?” a concerned voice asked, making Gaila turn away from Nurse Chapel and smile; it was Leonard.

“Yes, sir, and she seems to have some respiratory problems,” Chapel said, stepping away from Gaila to let McCoy come forward, a look of surprise taking him over before he went into doctor mode and took the tricorder from Nurse Chapel.

“Oh God, Gaila,” he muttered as he checked the readings before turning to Chapel. “Get me a sedative, we’re gonna have to repair some things.” Chapel nodded and hurried off, leaving Leonard to examine Gaila. “Now I don’t want you to speak, okay? You have some severe damage to your trachea, vocal chords, and top of your lungs. Whatever it was that you were breathin’ in was pretty much tearin’ you apart from the inside out. I’m gonna do what I can to fix your lungs and trachea, but your vocal chords are gonna be pretty bad no matter what I do.” He paused, his green eyes searching Gaila’s face for a response before he continued on. “With a liquid diet and rest, though, they should be better. Now without speakin’, is there anythin’ else that needs attention? No scratches, cuts, or bruises?” Gaila shook her head, watching Leonard as he stood up straight and took a hypo from Chapel when she returned. “I’ma get you prepped for surgery now, alright? And when you get up, I suppose Jim’ll want to see you…”

Gaila wished that she could speak when she saw how disappointed Leonard looked as he gently placed the hypo to her neck. As everything around her began to fade to black, she made sure she grabbed Leonard’s hand, giving it a squeeze before she was out.

 

~~

 

When she awoke, she felt a hand on top of hers, a feeling that made her heart sing as she turned her head, only to see Nyota there, asleep in a chair by Gaila’s bed. She smiled, slipping her hand from under Nyota’s as she sat up, touching her throat when she realized how sore it didn’t feel. She slid out from under the covers, her feet hitting the cool floor of the sickbay as she prepared herself to stand. Once Gaila was up, she reached behind herself, holding her hospital gown closed as she padded through the sickbay, seeking out Leonard everywhere she went.

“Pardon me, Cadet,” said the nurse she knew as Chapel when they passed each other by, “what are you doing out of bed?” Gaila smiled shyly, clearing her throat.

“Looking for Leonard,” she said quietly, her voice hoarse. Chapel smiled at her, pointing straight ahead.

“First door on the left. Don’t tell him I saw you, though; you’re not supposed to be out of bed.” Gaila nodded, waving to Chapel before she continued walking, hitting the chime for the door when she reached it. She slipped inside when it opened, finding Leonard in the way she always did, hunched over a padd.

“What is it?” he said before looking up, his eyes widening as he stood. “Gaila, what’re you doin’ here?” he hurried over to her, grabbing her shoulders and guiding her to a nearby chair. He tried to make her sit, frowning when she shook her head. “Gaila, you just got out of surgery…” he warned, sucking in a breath when she placed her free hand on his stubble covered cheek and gave him a quick peck on the lips. She pulled back, sitting in the chair he had brought her to and giggling at his shock.

“Sit down, Leonard,” she rasped, crossing her legs and watching him take two short steps to his desk, leaning on the edge of it.

“What was that for?” he asked, his hand slipping up to his mouth, touching his lips.

“For helping me,” she said with a shrug, “but mostly because I like you. A lot.”

“You _like_ me?” Leonard looked at her incredulously. “That’s not somethin’ humans do when they simply _like_ each other, Gaila. What about Jim?”

Gaila sighed, standing up (to Leonard’s displeasure) and placing her hands on his shoulders. “I only did all of that to make you jealous, Leonard. Jim’s nice and all, but not my type. Everything that I’ve done recently was because I was trying to get closer to you, when I should’ve just _told_ you.”

“Everything you’ve done?” he said, laughing as it dawned upon him. “You mean the flowers and the ‘perfume’ and the dinner? Well, damn, Gaila, you’ll have to forgive me for being out of practice. I had a feelin’ you weren’t just doin’ these things to make both of us miserable, but when you had gone and got with Jim…I wasn’t so sure anymore.” Gaila shook her head, tipping Leonard’s chin up to look him in the eye.

“It was another part of my plan, another part that backfired. Do you think that we could do this properly? If you wanted to, that is.” Leonard grinned, making Gaila smile in return as he stood and grabbed her waist, giving her a kiss that rivaled Jim’s.

“Of _course_ I want to. We can start with you comin’ to this medical conference with me, I promise it’ll be fun. And then whenever we go back to Earth and your throat’s better, I’ma take you out for a proper meal, after I take you to the movies, of course, and _then_ …”

Gaila couldn’t help laughing at Leonard’s plans, his excitement spurring her own.

This was the start of a beautiful relationship.


End file.
